Creating the ultimate 53-man roster is pretty simple when there aren't any parameters. It's a more challenging exercise when operating under a salary cap. Roster construction becomes more complicated with other restrictions designed to prevent a squad from resembling last Terrence Brooks Jersey season's All-Pro team. The constraints bring more realism to selection proce s. The ground rules are as follows.The salary cap for the roster is $213.489 million, although the actual salary cap is $208.2 million for this year. The number being used is the league's average adjusted salary cap, according to NFLPA data. Each 's working salary cap varies largely because unused cap room can be carried over from one year to the next. For example, the have the NFL's highest adjusted salary cap at $234.92 million largely thanks to carrying over slightly more than $25.75 million of cap room, which is the most in the league. The LVI champion have the lowest at $201.9 million, which is approximately $6.25 million below the league-wide number. Situations like this typically occur when incentives earned during the previous season that weren't counting on the cap get accounted for without sufficient cap room carrying over from the prior year to make up the difference.The NFL draft is an e sential element of roster building for NFL teams. It is here also. One player from each round of the 2022 draft must be on the roster. The number requirement drops by one player for each year of the preceding three drafts (2019-2021). The limit of one player per round remains. Thus, only four 2019 draft picks are required. There's one other draft pick constraint: only one 2018 first-round pick whose fifth year option was exercised is allowed. Selecting one isn't a nece sity. (Note: Relevant players' draft statuses can be found in parenthesis.)The backups at each position Maliek Collins Jersey are limited to players who aren't established starters, were reserves in 2021 or lost a starting job this year. This means young veterans cracking the lineup for the first time are eligible as reserves. Those starting last season only because of an injury are also fair game as backups. Players competing for starting jobs in the preseason or where there's a "by committee approach" at a position, usually running back, are also acceptable. A backfield containing and is prohibited since both are workhorse or every-down running backs.Choosing a player who was given a franchise or transition designation in 2022 is optional. However, only one player receiving a 2022 designation can be selected.The initial version of the team was done without paying attention to cost. Over $250 million of cap space was used. Multiple roster adjustments were nece sary in order to comply with the constraints.There were plenty of players I would have liked to include but were luxuries who couldn't be afforded. A concerted effort was also made to keep cap numbers under $10 million. There are five selections with cap figures above $10 million.Selecting an elite quarterback was the top priority since the NFL is a pa ser-driven league. A cap-friendly potential franchise quarterback is the most valuable commodity in the NFL. This is because of the roster flexibility provided by the low cap number. Choosing one was a nece sity. An emphasis was also placed on the offensive and defensive lines. The old football adage of "it starts in the trenches" was a guiding principle in a sembling the roster. There are three starting cornerbacks instead of a traditional base defense (either 3-4 or 4-3) since five or more defensive backs are now used over 60% of the time Rex Burkhead Jersey in the NFL.Long-range planning wasn't taken into account, so worrying about future salary cap obligations, the amount of cap room that could be carried over, expiring contracts and drafting players who might develop into starters down the road wasn't nece sary. Different choices would have been made if these aspects had been considerations.Here's the team I a sembled with some of my thoughts behind the selections. The 2022 cap number for each player is in parentheses. QB , ($11.986 million) TB QB #12 Brady fits the criteria of an elite quarterback with a modest cap number. Sixteen quarterbacks have a bigger 2022 cap number than Brady's. 2020 sixth-overall pick was very tempting with his $7,257,306 cap number. Selecting him would have forced a change to my starting wide receivers that I wasn't willing to make.Brady continues to defy Father Time. The 45-year-old had one of the best seasons of his NFL career in 2021. The agele s wonder threw for a league-leading (and a career-high) 5,316 yards and 43 touchdown pa ses last season. His 67.5 completion percentage was the second-best mark in his career.RB: Jonathan Taylor, ($2,141,124) IND RB #28 Minimal resources were going to be devoted to ball carriers. That's why all of the running backs are on rookie contracts. Taylor was the no-brainer choice because of his contract and productivity. He was easily the league's best running back last season. He led the NFL with 1,811 rushing yards and 18 rushing touchdowns while averaging 5.5 yards per carry. Taylor won the rushing title by 552 yards. WR: , ($6.485 million) MIA WR #10 , who won the receiving triple crown Deshaun Watson Jersey last season by leading the NFL in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns, wasn't a realistic option. He has the league's third-highest wide receiver cap number at $17,807,654.Hill is tremendous value with a $6.485 million cap number despite being the league's first $30 million per year non-QB. He's is arguably the league's most-feared deep threat because of his speed, but has also spent considerable time in the slot. According to Pro Football Focus, Hill was in the slot for 52.9% of pa sing snaps with the last season.WR: , ($6,876,519) SF WR #19 Samuel emerged as one of the NFL's most dangerous offensive weapons last season. He led the league with 18.2 yards per catch. Samuel caught 77 pa ses for 1,405 yards with six touchdowns. He was also a threat out of the backfield due to injuries to San Francisco's running backs. Samuel rushed for 365 yards on 59 carries and scored eight touchdowns on the ground. WR: , ($3,586,322) MIN WR #18 Nobody has ever had a more productive start to an NFL career at wide receiver than Jefferson. 2020's 22nd overall pick had 196 receptions for 3,016 yards and 17 touchdowns during his first two seasons. If the hadn't made a cap maneuver in July to treat ' $20 million 2023 roster bonus as signing bonus so it's prorated from 2022 through 2026, Jefferson wouldn't be on the team. Herbert would have gotten the 2020 first-round pick spot as quarterback. The move raised Adams's cap by $4 million from $8.18 million to $12.18 million.TE: , ($9,659,676) BAL TE #89 Andrews had one of the finest seasons ever for a tight end in 2021. He led NFL tight ends with 107 Darius Anderson Jersey receptions and 1,36
